Diana Not Revealing The Undoctered Footage of Max Lord

[Agent Z]

The very first issue of Action Comics are the Byrne reboot



Superman's body is stolen by the guy crutches, who transfers Supe's consciousness into his own human body. He then goes on a rampage and demolishes several city blocks as the Teen Titans try to restrain him. He is finally subdued by Jericho - which, incidentally, is yet another example of Superman [or at least his body] controlled by somebody else.

Who was this guy and what was his deal?

[Outside_85]

The very first issue of Action Comics are the Byrne reboot



Superman's body is stolen by the guy crutches, who transfers Supe's consciousness into his own human body. He then goes on a rampage and demolishes several city blocks as the Teen Titans try to restrain him. He is finally subdued by Jericho - which, incidentally, is yet another example of Superman [or at least his body] controlled by somebody else.

With that age hen I am left with assuming this was rendered non-canon in future events (like Zero Hour or Infinite Crisis) because Jericho tried jumping into Superman in the much later Titans and couldn't move him for more than a moment, which was the same result when Neron tried it in Day of Judgement.




Also you have to consider if any member of the public actually saw anything.

[brettc1]

Neron works by magic. different rules.

If we are assuming that Superman going crazy and trashing a city block in broad daylight, while people run screaming, didn't make the news then I think we have exhausted the avenues of discussion.

[Outside_85]

Neron works by magic. different rules.

If we are assuming that Superman going crazy and trashing a city block in broad daylight, while people run screaming, didn't make the news then I think we have exhausted the avenues of discussion.

Cept... all you have as proof is a cover

[Stanlos]

I think there is an element missing from the discussion. That element is the unprecedented level of control and its immutability. All of the past instances of possession/mind control etc. had counters.

The unusual circumstance around Sacrifice and Superman's complete subjugation by Max is that there was not a counter available. Even Wonder Woman's lasso did not break the episode. Were it not for Max's swagger turning against him and providing the opportunity for WW's choosing an unconventional solution, the DCU would have either lost Superman or lost WW (and others).

That Wonder Woman's lasso did not function could of course be called a contrivance which is the one issue I took and still take with the story.

[Stanlos]

Who was this guy and what was his deal?

The villain in the Action 584 story was one David Gundersen, a differently-abled scientist who developed a Mind Transfer Device. Luring Superman to his facility under false pretenses, Gundersens invention ripped Superman's consciousness from his Kryptonian body and stored it in Gundersen's more fragile form leaving Gundersen's own consciousness inhabiting the body of the legendary Man of Steel.

The Titans and Superman-As-Gundersen used the window of opportunity created by Jericho to get both gentlemen back to Gundersen's machine and with a flick of a switch restored each to his respective body after which Jericho exited Supe's body.

[brettc1]

Cept... all you have as proof is a cover

I've read the issue and have it on my shelf. Citizens running and screaming as Superman tears up the city.

[brettc1]

The villain in the Action 584 story was one David Gundersen, a differently-abled scientist who developed a Mind Transfer Device. Luring Superman to his facility under false pretenses, Gundersens invention ripped Superman's consciousness from his Kryptonian body and stored it in Gundersen's more fragile form leaving Gundersen's own consciousness inhabiting the body of the legendary Man of Steel.

The Titans and Superman-As-Gundersen used the window of opportunity created by Jericho to get both gentlemen back to Gundersen's machine and with a flick of a switch restored each to his respective body after which Jericho exited Supe's body.

correct. Thanks for digging up the name. I dint want to have to find the issue,

Gunderson as I recall kept Superman alive because he couldn't be sure how killing him might affect the mental transfer.

Any other mind controlled Superman stories post Infinite Crisis? Besides the Eradicator story?

Oh wait - of course. The one where Circe turn him into a rampaging Doomsday clone and he tries to kill Diana in the middle of New York City.

[Outside_85]

I've read the issue and have it on my shelf. Citizens running and screaming as Superman tears up the city.

Fair enough, though it means I am sticking with the notion it's been rendered non-canon by later events. Like Infinite Crisis restoring Diana as a founder of the Justice League over Black Canary.

[brettc1]

Fair enough, though it means I am sticking with the notion it's been rendered non-canon by later events. Like Infinite Crisis restoring Diana as a founder of the Justice League over Black Canary.

Did IC erase the attack by Circe that turned Clark into Superdoom in front of thousands of people?

And even if your theory about Action #1 is true, it makes no difference to Rucka's narrative because the Rucka story takes place before Infinite Crisis. Therefore Clark's decision to not tell the truth about the mind control immediately, that it would shake people's faith in Superman, still looks ridiculous in the light of the continuity in place when Rucka was writing the story.

[Agent Z]

No. Why on earth would Kate know what went down in the headquarters of a superspy organisation? And why would she have access to footage of that?


Ehm... I don't recall...


This was not Superman engaging in some standard comicbook supervillainous naughtyness.
This was the head of a US government agency saying he will use Superman to murder entire nations. It really is different.

How is it different?

[Stanlos]

How is it different?

The primary difference is the immutability of the control (even the instance brett mentions with Circe transforming Superman into a Doomsday hybrid had a counter--the Golden Lasso) and the fact that Checkmate, a US government agency, had successfully made Superman its WMD. Also different is there was not a singular means for the control. There were multiple methods deployed and the effort took years to complete. The effects held even when Superman and Wonder Woman were light years away from earth.

[brettc1]

The whole thing basically amount to this.

Blah blah Superman is awesome blah blah the world will fall into chaos if people know he can be mind controlled blah blah blah.

If that doesn't make sense, it's only because that doesn't make sense.

[theoneandonly]

there was one story arc dominus where he was taken over and was arbitrarily correcting all wrongs and the justice league was trying to stop him. anyway the sacrifice story perfectly depicted the cover ups and the manipulations that always makes the world ignorant about how close someone or something had come close to ending the same but it was averted.